News

Livestock farming remains one of the main means of livelihood, if not the only one, for hundreds of millions of individuals and a lever for local development especially in the poorest areas. It contributes to global food security, the struggle against poverty and the achievement of all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

While it has contributed to the formation of human civilisations since Neolithic times, livestock farming has now become a subject of debate among societies: climate change, animal welfare, vegetarianism or veganism, globalisation of commercial exchanges, transmission of diseases etc.

Animal health has also become a particularly sensitive issue for both consumers and producers, regardless of the degree of economic development and freedom of debate in society.

In the North and in the South, it is time to strengthen health monitoring systems to protect herds and human populations, improve practices for greater sustainability of livestock activities and training.

Livestock farming and animal health are one of the priorities identified by the CIHEAM in its Action Plan for the Mediterranean, CAPMED. The CIHEAM has therefore decided to give voice to experts and key actors of the sector in the framework of the new Watch Letter issue 39 that is entirely available online.